Nearfest 2004

[progdirjim(Admin)]

The following opinions are strictly my own. Other people will disagree.

The Friday night preshow with the Musical Box was cool. They do a fairly accurate early Genesis sound, and the setlist (since they were imitating the "Selling England" tour was excellent - all of Selling save "After The Ordeal" and "Aisle Of Plenty"; Watcher Of The Skies; The Musical Box; finishing with "Supper's Ready" and "The Knife" as an encore. I don't think I missed anything there.
Saturday
Yezda Urfa was totally cool. Very complex music, well performed. I was pleased, because at this point in the weekend, 2 out of 2 drummers were left-handed, which I appreciate as a lefty. Nice guys too.
Pallas I really enjoyed. Definitely more straight-ahead, as they are rightfully classified as a neo-prog band. Still good musicians, but a more traditional song structure. The lead singer was a bit goofy on stage to my eyes, but he and all the band played their hearts out - and that's always enjoyable to me.
Richard Pinhas - I was hoping Ricknroll could tell me what was muscially valid about his performance, but he felt the same way I did. My brother and I walked out after 15 minutes, and felt generous about waiting that long.
Mike Keneally - great guitarist, nice guy, and I really dug the portions of the show where the Zappa influence was most obvious - extended soli in particular. He played some nice pop songs, well written, but if I wanted good pop, I'd go to a Sting concert. No complaints, but I just wasn't as moved by him as I thought I would be.
Univers Zero - better than I expected. nice instrumentation - bass, drums, keys, and violin/strings, and 2 woodwinds. Daniel Denis is a unique drummer and the bandleader. They never get into a "groove" per se, so the performance was a bit unfocused for want of a better word. When you payed attention, though, there was plenty going on musically and well done.
Sunday
Hidria Spacefolk - a more earthy sounding Ozrics. pretty cool. I'm ordering their CD, since they were gone when I went to buy it...
Metamorfosi - Italian bass/drum/keys/vox. Better than I expected, especially their newer album length piece "Paradiso" great keyboardist, passionate vocalist - but what the hell was he saying? He certainly has a right to sing in his native tongue, but it makes appreciating the lyrical concepts impossible for me. And the bass player was really good, but I was thinking he might not have been in the top 3 of the weekend - that illustrates the talent level at a Nearfest.
Sean Malone - obviously a top notch bass and stick player, but solo his performance kind of meandered. It had moments, and he seemed like a nice guy, but I was disappointed. I did have high expectations, keep in mind.
Planet X - here's where Rick and I TOTALLY disagree. I think they stole the show. Amazing performances across the board. And Virgil Donati has to be one of the best rock drummers ever - his solo was in the top 3 I've seen - Terry Bozzio and Carl Palmer being the other 2. Nope, Neil Peart isn't even in the top 3 anymore...
Strawbs - well, they are a legend. They play mellotron drenched folky prog well. and they're BORING........

your mileage may vary...